IT: Chapter Two will begin filming this summer

If you're any kind of horror cinema buff, then you'll probably agree that IT was one of the most terrifying movies in recent memory, especially if you already suffer from a real fear of clowns... or, you know, creepy women in paintings, abusive fathers, sewers, a rotting vagrant, and any number of other phobias you'd care to mention.

Despite spending year in development hell, being passed through various directors and screenwriters before production began, the film was a smash hit, achieving worldwide total of $700.4 million at the box office. And all this happened against a production budget of $35 mill, earning rave reviews from critics, who praised the acting talents of lead antagonist Pennywise the Dancing Clown (as played by Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard) and its cast of young adolescents.

Now usually, the problem with horror films is that they inevitably become franchises, with movie studios churning out unnecessary sequels, prequels and remakes just to make a quick buck. Not so in the case of IT, which was always designed to be a two-part tale. Yes, you see, in Stephen King's original novel (and quite a doorstopper it is too, clocking in at around 1100 pages) the story also follows the losers club as adults, which means that there are even more scared to come.

Now, you might have thought that the children of Derry, Maine, were safe from the scourge of the bogeyman for good, but you'd be wrong. In the books, Pennywise comes back, and the losers are forced to honor the vow they made as children.

This means that a sequel is in order, with filming due to begin this summer, and the movie looks to set to land in theatres on September 6, 2019. Director Andy Muschietti has stated that the film will follow the losers club as adults struggling with personal problems and past traumas, returning to Derry after a series of brutal murders convince Mike Hanlon (who has remained in the town as the librarian) to get in touch with his old friends to do battle with the monster that haunted their childhoods. However, apparently, the child casts are going to still appear in flashbacks, which means that we'll get to see the old gang again.

As with the first film, director Andy Muschietti plans to make a few changes to the source material. Spoiler alert for those who haven't read the novel, but in the book, Eddie Kraspbrak is so terrified by the prospect of fighting Pennywise again that he commits suicide in his bathtub out of fear. Another major change is that the setting of the movies has been shifted from that of the book. In the novel, the story takes place between 1958 and 1985. Yet in the movies, the story takes place between 1988 and the present day.

Muschietti has also revealed that his depiction of Mike Halon will be suffering from drug addiction as a result of the stress of staying in the town. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he stated: "I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him. I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he’s a wreck … He will bear the role of trying to figure out how to defeat him. The only way he can do that is to take drugs and alter his mind.”